The Business Case for Wireless Mesh Networks
| It must be assumed that any metro-scale WiFi mesh deployment will need to grow in terms of both coverage and capacity over time. The key elements influencing total cost of ownership (TCO) of a metro-scale WiFi mesh are as follows: (a) the number and cost of mesh nodes, (b) backhaul to external networks, (c) network management and OSS, (d) non-recurring engineering and installation, and (e) mounting rights expense (attach fees). Maintenance expense is usually very low and will be therefore ignored here. With respect to each of these: |  |
- Mesh nodes – This includes the cost of the nodes themselves, antennas, and associated hardware. An important point that we will return to below includes the ability to cost-effectively amortize additional capacity via the addition of multiple radios to existing nodes, providing the most cost-effective growth path over time. It is also important to select nodes that have excellent performance for a wide variety of traffic types, again on the assumption that all successful metro-scale implementations will need to transport traditional IP data initially and expand to include the traditional definition of “triple play” over time. We make the assumption here that over-provisioning capacity is the preferred deployment strategy, just as it is with wire, but tempered by the cost realities of deploying many nodes at once. Incremental growth is thus the key, and we will expand upon this below.
- Backhaul –This is the other potentially large expense which can be mitigated by architectural choices. While many forms of both wired and wireless backhaul exist, all can add significant cost to a given installation. As we noted elsewhere in this document, the good news here is that appropriate architectural choices can materially reduce the cost of backhaul by provision fewer (if higher-capacity) backhaul links.
- Network Management and OSS – Significant cost benefits can be obtained via the effective use of mesh network management and operational support system tools. While traffic flows through the mesh are self-managing to the greatest degree possible, it’s important to use automation wherever possible to hold operational expense down. Appropriate and effective automation in the management and OSS space can reduce personnel costs, improve customer-facing responsiveness, and increase overall customer satisfaction while holding maintenance costs to a minimum. An excellent example of the benefits possible here would be in a network management system that monitors throughput and latency, across the mesh, automatically identifying potential areas where more capacity should be deployed, and providing advance warning of this condition
- Engineering and Installation – Designing, installing, testing and certifying metro-scale mesh networks is an engineering-based discipline requiring significant expertise. The cost of engineering and installation is typically 25% to 30% of equipment cost. However, deployment circumstances can significantly increase this percentage. Examples of common situations leading to higher costs include the need to wire additional power to the mounting locations, and correcting installations for unexpected radio conditions such as low-than-expected signal penetration due to interference or intervening structures (the latter known as shadow fading).
- Attach fees – This element, sometimes also called “roof rights”, is often cited as the major expense in installing and growing a metro-scale mesh. These are the fees paid to those holding the real-estate where the individual mesh nodes are mounted. All that is generally required is an appropriate location (determined by user-population density, distance between mesh nodes, and the laws of physics as they relate to radio propagation), access to electrical power, and an appropriate structure, meeting local codes, to mount the node to. Streetlight poles are often cited as an ideal venue, but many others are possible, including the sides or roofs of buildings. Note again that the use of multiple radios per infrastructure node can be a very effective technique in minimizing this expense. Generally, attach fees for light poles are modest and in some cases can even be zero. In other situations, pole-attach fees can be prohibitively expensive.
Other costs, which we group under the general heading of operational expense (OpEx), include administration, legal, maintenance, office expense, utilities, marketing, sales, support, and related customer-facing expenses, but these are irrespective of particular architectural choices.
As it turns out, the primary variable in selecting an architectural strategy that results in a low overall TCO (and thus an optimal ROI) is the ability of a given node to support multiple radios, as was noted above. The Farpoint Group believes that the best way to minimize costs, then, is to select an architecture that minimizes the need for off-mesh backhaul and that allows for the most cost-effective incremental growth over time - the best path to this end is a multi-radio mesh with the ability to provision and field-upgrade a given node with additional radios.
It should be quite clear that multiple-radio nodes can have a profound impact not just on performance, but on the ultimate cost-effectiveness of a given metro-scale mesh. And, as gross margin is computed by subtracting cost from revenue, maximizing revenue via multiple classes of users each with sufficient capacity and performance to meet their specific requirements and minimizing costs via architectural innovations is the best path to a successful metro-scale WiFi mesh deployment.
| If you are a carrier or municipality interested to speak with one of our business development executives regarding the business case for wireless mesh networks please click here | |
| Strix architecture, recently tested by independent equipment testing group, Iometrix, confirmed Tempe’s selection of the best product for the job in a recent report published on Light Reading article entitled “Wireless Mesh: Ready!” located at http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=96200. |
Strix OWS utilizes sophisticated distributed localized node intelligence (DLNI) via Strix DMA™ making Strix Access/One the only mesh system scalable enough to handle the size of the network with enough performance to handle the capacity and real-time applications expected to be deployed on the network. As stated by many Strix customers who have installed many wireless systems and have performed exhaustive product tests, Strix offers the best performance, outstanding value and significantly reduces operating costs as a result of the architectures non-blocking performance. unlike competing mesh products that use either single or dual radios, Strix’s Access/One OWS supports up to six radios per node, providing dedicated high-speed wireless bandwidth for backhaul ingress, backhaul egress, and client connectivity. The Strix approach ensures the highest throughput and lowest latency over the greatest number of wireless hops, ensuring the highest performance for voice and video applications over the mesh while enabling easy and cost-effective future network expansion.
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